1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a device for changing channels in a digital television reception system with at least one image display unit in the form of a television set or equivalent for the reception of several television channels over an incoming communication link and display of the desired TV channel on the screen of the image display unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that traditional, analogue TV reception systems will in the future gradually be replaced by digital TV reception systems. Further, certain interface units will become superfluous, which will lead to shorter signal processing times and in this way, also shorter transfer times. The new digital TV reception systems have the additional advantage that both image and sound quality are improved. However, it is generally known for one skilled in the art that a certain time delay will arise in association with changing between different TV channels in such digital TV reception systems, and this can, in certain cases, can be experienced as a not inconsiderable source of irritation. Various coupling systems are also already known that have been designed with the intention of making possible a more rapid changing of channels between the said TV channels.
Thus, for example, document JP 10190617 shows a coupling arrangement with an image signal decoding device with reduced delay time, whereby the rate of swapping images is improved when changing between different TV channels. The known construction includes for the intended purpose a separate, extra connection loop, whereby several different components, such as buffer memory and temporary memory, are exploited.